Import PS prices in China and Southeast Asia have been mostly on a stable to firm track since they hit a more than one-year low in around early December. Despite healthy demand and low inventories, sellers either kept their offers stable or applied modest hikes in the midst of slowly rising spot styrene prices...

Turkish PE players reported to have felt a visible impact of the restriction on the use of plastic bags on PE trade although it has been only a few weeks since the compulsory fee of TRY0.25 was implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning...

In Europe, LDPE and LLDPE prices continued to hover at around their multi-year lows as the downward trend of PE was extended into 2019 with January prices witnessing decreases of €20 -€40/ton. Lingering holiday lull and overall ample supplies kept trading thin...

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A look back at Asian PP markets in 2018: Energy costs remain the main driver of pricing

When looking back at the price trends for the past one year, it seems that Asian PP markets largely outperformed PE and were better at dealing with some of the negative developments of 2018, including global trade wars and currency crisis.

PP outperformed PE through 2018

Data from ChemOrbis Price Index suggest that import homo-PP prices in China and Southeast Asia started the year on a firm note and mostly hovered around their late-February levels until they surrendered to plunging crude oil and naphtha prices in around mid-October.

After hitting 3-year high, import PP saw no major changes until mid-October

While Asian PE markets were struggling with the negative effects of the US-China trade war and hitting around 10-year lows, PP pricing was largely dominated by upstream costs and supply-demand dynamics, without witnessing any sharp changes for the most part of the year.

As data reveal, import homo-PP prices on CFR China/SEA basis started 2018 on a firm path and maintained an increasing trend during the first two months amid higher costs. In China, the ban on scrap plastic imports also contributed to this firming as it boosted demand for virgin grades.

After hitting almost a three-year high in early March, import prices in both markets mostly hovered around a narrow range until they began to see visible decreases in the latter part of October.

Crude oil slump changed things for PP in October

Crude oil futures were strong for the most part of 2018 as they reached a four-year high in early October. However, since then, futures have posted a cumulative decrease of around 37% amid fears of a potential glut of supplies.